The latest book by Grassington’s Victoria Benn is an insight into the sporting history of the Ingleborough and Clapham areas and the events attracted 1000s to the area. Victoria’s sporting dad, Skipton’s Mr Sport, Roger Ingham, inspired her research.

WITH more than two centuries of epic feats, tenacious challenges and trail blazing pioneers uncovered for the first time, Peak Performance is the definitive guide to the great sporting legacy of Ingleborough and the Yorkshire Dales’ Three Peaks.

Sponsored by Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, this hardback book by Victoria Benn unveils the complete sporting history of one of the country’s most iconic mountains.

More than 200 years of athleticism, perseverance and tenacity are brought to life through personal stories, previously unpublished photographs and several new artworks and illustrations by Yorkshire artists, Victoria Alderson and James Innerdale.

Long being the stage for the world-class Yorkshire Three Peaks Race and Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross, Ingleborough and its sister mountains are already familiar territory to Europe’s most intrepid adventurers and elite sportsmen and women.

The history of these two events, along with that of the Yorkshire Dales’ original ultra, the Fellsman, are uncovered in greater depth than ever before.

Inside includes testimonies from the pioneers who created them and the selfless individuals who paved the way for others to excel, along with some of the extraordinary athletes who have made history on the mountain.

Discover what inspired Fred Bagley, organiser and winner of the very first Three Peaks Race, and find out from trail blazer Kevin Watson what prompted him to cycle the peaks when he was just 14 years old.

Enjoy first-hand insights and anecdotes from fell running legend Bill Teasdale, record holder of the Ingleborough Mountain Race from 1952 – 65.

There aremany more too including from some of today’s champion athletes including Rob Jebb, Andy Peace, Nicky Spinks and Victoria Wilkinson.

Peak Performance also reveals the history and stories of Ingleton Sports and Clapham Sports, both large scale events once hosted in the Ingleborough landscape and which reeled in the some of the north’s premier sports talent. One such star being national hunt jockey Brian Fletcher, who rode to two Grand National victories on Red Rum, one of the most famous race horses of all time.

The book also includes comprehensive and entertaining insights into a wide range of traditional Yorkshire Dales’ sporting pursuits, including wrestling, whippet racing, hound trails, sheep dog trials, motor cycle racing and the horse racing events of trotting and the gallops.

A further highlight of the book is the first time ever recorded history of the Ingleborough Mountain Race – including the publication of all winners since the very first race in 1934.

Peak Performance also contains contributions from athletes Rob Jebb, Victoria Wilkinson and Hannah Horsburgh in addition to stories from the leading lights of earlier decades including Norman Beck, John Bell, Reg Harrison, Roger Ingham, Arthur Lampkin, Bob Whitfield and Chris Wilkinson.

Victoria Benn lives and works in the Yorkshire Dales and is best known for her lifestyle feature writing across several regional publications.

An early immersion into the world of fell running and traditional rural sports has long engendered Victoria’s passion to uncover its stories, history, pioneers and characters. Victoria also wrote Studs & Crooks with Jamie Roberts in 2016

This project is part of Stories in Stone, a scheme of conservation and community projects concentrated in the Ingleborough area. The scheme was developed by the Ingleborough Dales Landscape Partnership, led by Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, and supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Peak Performance is published by Tickled Troup Press. It is priced at £8.50, plus P&P.

For a list of stockists or for mail order email info@runthedales.org.uk